How Unhoeflich from Gates!

CNN:U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates plans to press European allies to contribute more to the fight in Afghanistan during two days of informal NATO meetings that began Thursday in the Lithuanian capital. (...)

Gates has made no secret of his frustration with allies reluctant to send more troops and equipment to Afghanistan. Testifying at the Senate Wednesday, before his trip to the meeting in Vilnius, Gates warned that the issue threatens to break the nearly 60-year-old alliance apart.
"I worry a great deal about the alliance evolving into a two-tiered alliance in which you have some allies willing to fight and die to protect people's security and others who are not," Gates said. (...)

"The Americans are becoming increasingly frustrated with the inability of the European allies to get their act together," said Michael Williams, an analyst with the Royal United Services Institute, a military think tank. "Not just in terms of burden-sharing, which allies are doing in the north, but risk-sharing."

In visits to the combat theaters, in military hospitals, and in bases and posts at home and around the world, I continue to be amazed by their decency, resiliency, and courage. Through the support of the Congress and our nation, these young men and women will prevail in the current conflicts and be prepared to confront the threats that they, their children, and our nation may face in the future.

I just wonder if any German politician or journalist would find it appropriate to thank the U.S. troops - or British, Canadian or Dutch troops - for their "decency, resiliency, and courage" displayed during fights in the southern parts of Afghanistan, where, due to a national obsession with military defeat, German troops have not been noticed as yet.

On the other hand, given Germany's less than stellar record in training the police in Afghanistan, hopes for a significant improvement in the south of Afghanistan through the deploament of German troops may prove elusive:

Germany is coming under severe criticism for failing to train an effective Afghan police force to provide security for the local population and help NATO against Taliban insurgents in the south, according to military officials and defense experts. (...)

Germany's record in training the Afghan police has come under
particular scrutiny as NATO and the EU try to coordinate the military,
civilian and development efforts to prevent the south from falling into
the hands of warlords and drug cartels.

NATO's top military commander, General James Jones, has repeatedly
criticized Germany's role in training the Afghan police and the
police's inability to protect civilians. "The training has been very
disappointing," Jones said in a recent interview. (source)

Dog and Pony Show:
It is coming to that, and not just for Germany. I doubt that many Germans realize that some ignorant stupid Amis have taken the time to observe and listen to Germans and Europeans in the last 6 years. Opinion polls of US citizens with regard to Germany are generally positive.I wager that if this US opinion of Germany were correlated with KNOWLEDGE of Germany,a different picture would ensue. BTW, my brother-in-law, born in Germany,no longer wants to visit where he was born, because of how Germany has changed in the last 15 years.Acts have consequences, even German acts towards the US.

Recall that one reason that Tony Blair had for supporting US action in Iraq was to forestall US isolationism. If we don't support the US here, he reasoned, the US will not support us here in Europe.The storm of EUROSNEERS that the US has endured in the last 5 years has only strengthened support for isolationism in the US. I don't think most Europeans realize how strong sentiment in the US is to say," the hell with Europe (wherever)."
One irony is that the EUROSNEERS think that the Democrats are their friends. Perhaps with regard to Iraq they are, but as the Democrats are isolationists, they are very unlikely to support any US action abroad that Europe would perceive to be of benefit to Europe.

Do the EUROSNEERS really want the US to pull up the moat, and deal with the jihadis, Russians, and Chinese on their own?

Last Tuesday, October 7th, the second presidential debate that took place in Belmont University in Nashville attracted over 60 million viewers. Instead of coming to a more firm deliberation on how to improve the well-being of the United States and all of the American citizens who inhabit it, more questions have raised about how exactly these presidential candidates intend to better our obliterated economy. Frequent questions asked about the $700 billion Wall Street bailout were left unanswered. People are upset and even fear that it would not work and are in search of reassurance and a solution. It seems like their main focus is basically to criticize each other in hopes of rounding up a larger number of followers than the other. Their proposed intentions are based on completely irrelevant issues. Let’s take Barak Obama’s stance on payday advance lenders for an instance. He categorized them as “predatory lending”- effectively sanctioning the industry. This is not an issue that is downheartedly affecting our economy. As the real economic problems are ignored, they spend more time finding and using the pettiest affairs to add spice to the banking production.

Last Tuesday, October 7th, the second presidential debate that took place in Belmont University in Nashville attracted over 60 million viewers. Instead of coming to a more firm deliberation on how to improve the well-being of the United States and all of the American citizens who inhabit it, more questions have raised about how exactly these presidential candidates intend to better our obliterated economy. Frequent questions asked about the $700 billion Wall Street bailout were left unanswered. People are upset and even fear that it would not work and are in search of reassurance and a solution. It seems like their main focus is basically to criticize each other in hopes of rounding up a larger number of followers than the other. Their proposed intentions are based on completely irrelevant issues. Let’s take Barak Obama’s stance on payday advance lenders for an instance. He categorized them as “predatory lending”- effectively sanctioning the industry. This is not an issue that is downheartedly affecting our economy. As the real economic problems are ignored, they spend more time finding and using the pettiest affairs to add spice to the banking production.